


cannonball

by Amikotsu



Series: Akatsuki Gift Exchange 2019 [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Affection, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Boys Kissing, Good Uchiha Itachi, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Uchiha Itachi Being a Good Brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21895645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amikotsu/pseuds/Amikotsu
Summary: Itachi decides to tie up some loose ends in the village. When he doesn't show up to the meeting point, Kisame goes looking for him.
Relationships: Hoshigaki Kisame & Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame/Uchiha Itachi
Series: Akatsuki Gift Exchange 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1575520
Comments: 5
Kudos: 102
Collections: Akatsuki Gift Exchange





	cannonball

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Misfit_McCoward](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misfit_McCoward/gifts).



> This is another entry for the Akatsuki Gift Exchange on tumblr. It's for exemplarybehaviour!

Welcome home.

Itachi and Kisame stopped before the open gates and looked at the remnants of the village. Itachi closed his eyes and sighed. He remembered the first time he'd fled the village. Thirteen, too young to be on his own, entrusted with a mission much bigger than himself. To Itachi's left, eyes narrowed, Kisame looked at the destruction, as if the man had never seen something so terrible, so very wrong. The mighty village had been flattened. Wooden houses dotted the area, intermixed with tents, large and small. The shinobi made new homes amongst the rubble. Itachi saw the Will of Fire in them.

"Shimura Danzo is going to be the next Hokage."

"No, he isn't."

"So that's why we're here. He's leaving for the summit. Standing here isn't killing him."

Itachi looked over at Kisame, amusement hidden in his dark eyes, then he took the first step toward the village. They'd abandoned their cloaks and dressed in dark colors, all black to blend in with the shadows, to disappear into the night. Instead of ordinary chunin guarding the gate, two ANBU members stood at the entrance to the village. Itachi took the first step toward them, so Kisame followed. ANBU approached them in a shunshin, but Kisame deflected their attacks, saving Itachi the trouble. One whistled, signaling other ANBU, so Itachi closed his eyes for a moment. He hadn't used ANBU code in so long, not since he'd lost contact with the village, and that had been seventeen months ago. Kisame reached for his sword, but Itachi held up a hand. 

"The moon rises in the west. Blood on the leaves," Itachi said, using the code Danzo had once taught him. The ANBU exchanged a quick nod, then they turned and disappeared. Itachi still felt them hovering, so he nodded toward the village. "Let's go."

While Itachi ignored the shinobi watching them, Kisame took time to smile at them, his sharp teeth on full display. Village life hadn't been for him, not really, and it wasn't for Itachi, not anymore. He wondered when they would finally stop running; he wondered if they'd ever pause, just for themselves. And then he remembered that moving forward was the best thing they could do, in their situation. The sea was gone. The sunflowers were gone. All that waited for them was more blood, and what was a little more blood on his hands? 

The Hokage tower was gone, the academy nothing but rubble. Pain had destroyed the village, but he hadn't broken the people. Itachi stopped at the spot where the building once stood, then ANBU appeared in front of them and led them to a new structure a block over, a temporary office meant to keep things going. Both men had heard that Tsunade was still in the hospital, not that either of them cared. They had other things in mind, other people in mind, so one woman meant little to them. Danzo was inside the makeshift office, the other two elders mingling with the shinobi gathered in the main room. When Itachi and Kisame entered the room, the conversations fell away. The ANBU from the gate followed them inside and reported to Danzo. He was Hokage in everything but name. Itachi knew the man would never wear the robes, not while he lived. 

"Everyone is dismissed," Danzo announced, his voice the only sound in the room. For a moment, no one moved, then Danzo motioned to the door, and Itachi and Kisame moved to stand before the man's desk. "What are you doing here? I see you've brought another _stray_. Have you forgotten our agreement?"

"It's over. The orphans, the conditioning, the spying, the manipulations," Itachi listed, his expression blank. Danzo narrowed his visible eye, but Itachi focused on the right. With his sharingan, he saw the chakra focused around the eye. He knew. He'd always known. It wasn't too late to right a wrong. "You will never be Hokage."

"Signal them and it'll be the last thing you do," Kisame spoke, one hand already on the hilt of samehada. Danzo scowled, then he began to back away from them. Kisame made a move to follow, but Itachi shook his head. "So you mean to do this alone," Kisame said, the rest of his words missing. He wondered if Itachi could handle another major battle, but he chose not to ask. If something happened, if Itachi failed, Kisame decided that he would end things. 

Tree roots burst forth from the ground and darted toward Itachi, but Itachi seemed to disappear. A quick shunshin took him closer to Danzo, so the old man destroyed the wall at his back. The whole west wall in the room exploded outward, wooden fragments crashing toward the ground below. Danzo moved as if he were younger than his years, and Itachi wondered if experimentation had something to do with it. Only a look at his corpse would answer the question. He knew there were more eyes, so he counted them. For each one, he would kill the man.

The chase led them through the village. As shinobi realized what was going on Kisame intercepted them and held them back, allowing Itachi to get away. It was all he could do. He should have killed them all, but a nagging voice in his head told him to hold back. Itachi had the real fight, the one that mattered. They both needed time, but they'd needed time for years. And when the battle was over? What then? Kisame didn't know. 

Eventually, there were too many shinobi for him to fight them all. Overwhelmed, he chose to step aside. There was a meeting place just southwest of the village, an hour before Tanzaku. If Itachi didn't show, Kisame knew that he would have to go back. He waited for an hour, while time crawled along, while the sun slowly slipped below the horizon. He sat at a bar, Yamamoto's, and let the conversations between patrons wash right over him. People stared at him, but people had always stared at him. He was intimidating, without even trying, yet he hadn't intimidated Itachi. The man seemed unshakeable. And Itachi was late then, the minutes ticking away on a clock behind the bartender. Kisame paid for the sake he didn't drink, left a little extra behind to cover the tab for a man who had dared to ask about the blade on Kisame's back. 

Kisame knew that his pace made no difference. Slower steps, faster steps, promised the same picture. He longed to stand still and avoid the inevitable. He followed the masked corpses to a lake just off the main road, where he found Itachi hunched over near the water's edge. Instead of speaking, Kisame slowly approached and took a seat next to him. He looked terrible. Hair disheveled, shirt torn to reveal the mesh underneath, Itachi looked as if he'd fought an entire army, and maybe he had. Itachi had a cut over his right eye, thin, precise, but the blade had missed his eye. He'd jerked away, saving what remained of his sight. In the end, he'd won. He'd killed the loyal Root agents that gave chase, and he'd collapsed, unable to force himself to put one foot in front of the other. 

"It's over," Itachi said, as if Kisame truly gave a damn about the fact. Eyes still crimson, sharingan on full display, Itachi turned to look at Kisame. "Sasuke will be returning to Konoha, along with his team." Kisame nodded, because he didn't know what to say to that. Sasuke mattered, but not to him. 

"You were late. I thought I'd come and find you," Kisame finally spoke, voice low, eyes on the vertical cut. Itachi reached up to touch it, but Kisame caught his wrist. "I know this was something you needed to do on your own, and I respect that, but I won't wait again."

"Are we really this incapable of expressing how we feel?" Itachi didn't expect an answer to the question, since he'd asked the world around him that question. "Alright," he replied, words late, "I won't ask you to do it again." Kisame released his hold on Itachi's wrist, then he rested the hand atop Itachi's head. "We can do something you want to do now."

"How do you feel about dango?" Kisame got to his feet and extended a hand to help Itachi up. He tugged too hard, looking for an excuse to have the man close, then he brushed a thumb over Itachi's right cheek. With war looming, Kisame knew they had little time left. Even if they ran, even if they hid, they would never escape it. He dipped his head and placed a kiss on Itachi's right temple, then he turned and led the way through the trees.

Itachi hesitated, fingertips reaching for the warmth left behind by Kisame's lips. "Dango would be nice."

**Author's Note:**

> One more story left, and it's NOT ItaKisa. 🤫😉


End file.
